Armed forces flex standards to meet recruiting goals

Sunday

The Pentagon last year approved a plan to increase the size of the Army from 519,000 troops to 547,000 by 2010.

Army officials did not return calls seeking comment, but an Aug. 11 Department of Defense press release says the Army is on track to meet its 2008 goal, which was not stated.

Month-to-month Army recruitment goals within the past year have varied from 750 in December to 10,000 in July. The Army, which has suffered the most casualties and has endured longest deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, has met its stated goal each month.

The Army exceeded its 2007 recruiting goal, 80,000, by 407 recruits.

LACK OF INFORMATION

It’s difficult to gauge the recruiting environment in Beaver County.

Local Army recruiters, who declined to comment for this article, forwarded a reporter’s query to an Army office in Cleveland. Officials there did not return a phone call.

Sgt. Jeff Pring has been the Air Force’s recruiter in Beaver County since 2005. Despite not offering signup bonuses or other incentives, he has been able to meet the Air Force’s goal of enlisting two recruits a month.

Accepting less-educated recruits. The percentage of recruits with high school diplomas has dropped significantly in the past five years.

Year, Percentage

2003, 94 percent

2005, 84 percent

2007, 71 percent

Accepting older recruits. The maximum age for recruits has jumped seven years since 2005.

Year, Maximum age

2005, 35

2006, 40

Present: 42

Source: The National Priorities Project

Sean Dennerlein is a senior and National Honor Society member at Ambridge Area High School.

He has never been in trouble with the law, and he plans to attend college before joining the Air Force as a chaplain.

Dennerlein’s the type of recruit the military salivates over. But he’s also the type of recruit the military is struggling to enlist.

The nation’s armed services, under orders to increase their numbers, expect to meet year-end recruiting goals. But they’re doing so only by accepting less-educated, older recruits who are more likely to have criminal backgrounds.

The trouble began in 2005 when the Army missed its annual recruitment goal for the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The reason: waning support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Donald Goldstein, a professor of international relations at the University of Pittsburgh.

The Army and other military braches responded by lowering their recruiting standards.

For example, the amount of Army recruits with high school degrees decreased by 23 percent from 2003 to last year, according to Defense Department data obtained by the Boston-based National Priorities Project.

The Army disputes the number, saying it’s actually a 15 percent drop. Whatever the case, Goldstein said the drop doesn’t bode well.

“The Army’s in trouble,” Goldstein said. “They’re taking what they can get.”

Studies show high school dropouts are less likely to complete basic training than recruits with diplomas, he said.

Unlike the Army, the Marine Corps has consistently met its recruitment goals. But like the Army, it is allowing more felons into its active-duty ranks, according to a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform report released in April.

The Marine Corps enlisted 350 recruits with felony convictions in fiscal year 2007. That’s up from 208 the year before. Felon recruits in the Army jumped from 249 in 2006 to 511 last year.

The armed services have long accepted high school dropouts and former criminals into their ranks, Goldstein said. But today’s warfare is much more technical than that of previous wars, he said.

Army studies have shown the higher level of education that recruits have the better they score on aptitude tests. And there’s a correlation between high aptitude test scores and performance, such as target practice, according to the National Priorities Project.

The Army in 2006 increased its age limit to from 35 to 42. The result: It enlisted 1,667 recruits ages 35 to 42 in fiscal 2007, according to the National Priorities Project. The figure represents around 2.5 percent of its active-duty recruits that year.

“They’ve lowered their standards,” said Goldstein. “They don’t like to admit it, but they have.”

Recruiting expenses are also on the rise.

For example, the Army in 2007 announced a $20,000 quick-ship bonus, in which recruits report to basic training within 30 days of enlisting. Also, seniors in high school can receive up to $1,000 a month from the time they sign up until they graduate, plus $1,000 upon graduating, for joining the Army.

The bonuses aren’t as widespread in the Marine Corps, which has a more selective recruitment process. But they do exist.

Steven Makepeace is a member of the Marine Corps junior ROTC program at Ambridge Area. Makepeace, who will enter Marine Corps boot camp next June after graduating, said he may receive a $5,000 sign-on bonus.

Cory Nealon can be reached online at cnealon@timesonline.com.

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